ROCCAT Torch

You have aspirations of being a streamer or content creator worth a damn. Looking for the right equipment to get you started, you naturally become a bit overwhelmed. The market is flooded with any amount of gaming peripherals and streaming accessories meant to somehow elevate your gameplay and personality into a higher echelon.

As someone who has spent years tip-toeing into the streaming world, finding an ideal jumping-off point has been difficult. There’s a kind of pointless idealism in expecting that spending comically large amounts of money and time on acquiring the best gear will serve any kind of purpose outside of leaving a hole in the wallet. Sure, you want to have a great camera, the cleanest audio, the smoothest gameplay capture, and a flood of RGB lights. But the deluge of products targeted at gamers and streamers means countless buzzwords to become confused by, dozens of flashy brands vying for attention. Do you need DSLR cameras to highlight your pores and soundproof panels to make sure ambient noise doesn’t interrupt your barks and commentary?

You’re just getting started… there’s no need to get lost in tech until an audience is grown and nurtured. Find a reasonable product that checks off several boxes and go from there and remember that your personality is going to count for a lot in the end.

The ROCCAT Torch microphone is a product laser-focused on a key demographic. Streaming hopefuls, those gamers or just-chatterers hoping to provide a personal voice to their video content. Packed with thoughtful features meant to eliminate complexity and priced extremely competitively, ROCCAT has introduced one of the most viable tools for a budding YouTuber or Twitch star that wants to share their voice with a wider audience with an admirable amount of sound quality.

Perhaps the most striking thing about the Torch is its built-in mixer base that allows users to control most of the microphone’s features. One dial controls the three pick up patters used by the mic, another dial controls the volume, while a slider adjusts gain. Acting as a kind of control center for the Torch, the base allows for easy, quick access to the most important features of most entry-level streaming and gaming microphones. However, unlike the classic stand-by of something like the Blue Yeti, having the Torch’s controls at the base limits the amount of extra sound the microphone pics up when a user fidgets with a dial.

Having often used a Blue Yeti for simple voice recording and streaming purposes, I remember how sensitive the microphone was at the smallest tap or bit of friction, all because those controls were so close to where the microphone picked up sound. Trying to adjust volume levels and how your voice was received would often result in crackling, a pop, or some other unpleasant sound. The Torch significantly limits the amount of interference users will pick up when recording. Because the base and its controls have a bit of distance and are somewhat detached from the microphone, less ambient fidgeting noise will be picked up. That isn’t to say switching pick-up patterns won’t amount to a bit of noise when the microphone is screwed into the base but they are dampened.

The Torch has a strong visual impact even without its RGB lights active. The matte and shiny blacks allow the unit to blend in with nearly any setup yet ensure it is sleek enough to have its own identity. But the form factor distinguishes the Torch in a way I didn’t expect. Traditionally, I’m more familiar with rounder, pill-shaped microphones–again, the Yeti is my primary reference point. The Torch appears significantly smaller, not only due to its shorter stature but decreased width. It lacks a visual and physical heft, meaning it takes up less real estate when sitting on a desk or when attached to one of the many compatible boom arms. The shape of the Torch is more rectangular when facing it from the front, giving the impression that it will soak up more sound when the user speaks directly into it.

Because the Torch is a gaming-centric microphone, it should come as no surprise that it features an array of RGB lighting zones. Strangely, the Torch only implements ROCCAT’s proprietary custom AIMO RGB lighting with the ROCCAT logo at the center of the mic. AIMO allows users to sync up their ROCCAT devices in the NEON ecosystem so they all can have similar lighting schemes. Personally, this wasn’t a feature that made or broke the Torch for me. It may be cool for those who have a family of ROCCAT devices but that specific group may be disappointed by the lack of customization for the other lighting features of the microphone.

Where the Torch’s lighting comes alive is in how it reflects the changes made by the user. Each pick-up pattern bathes the Torch in a new color of ambient light. Whether a green, purple, or blue, the effect is rapid and cool to look at. It adds to the overall flair of the Torch’s seemingly simple design, giving the microphone a new amount of depth when its colors are on display. The RGB features aren’t going to have flashy settings like you might find on other hardware like graphics cards, towers, and keyboards where the lights breathe and pulse. Instead, the colors maintain a consistent glow that should rapidly allow users to recognize what pick-up pattern they have selected rather than needing to rely on what the dial indicates.

It’s a small touch but I think the feature is quite clever in this space, giving the Torch a space in a growing streamer’s setup to fit in among a number of other flashy accessories. One of the best aspects of the RGB lights serving as an indicator is that when a user slides the gain up or down, two glowing bars on the left and right edges of the Torch move up and down. The levels rise and fall with a near 1:1 consistency, providing a way for a user to learn to visually identify what height the color should be at when adjusting the gain to their desired level. Certainly it might not replace the fine tuning of a slider or even a software adjustment on a PC but it’s another clever trick that separates the Torch from the rest of its competition. The colors will also shift to red when muted and a bar at the base lights up to read “LIVE” in green when the Torch is picking up sound or show a red mic image when muted.

Having a microphone that provides visual feedback without any kind of fuss transforms the Torch, providing the piece of tech with an appearance that is fitting of its name. Touches like this show that ROCCAT and Turtle Beach are being forward-thinking when addressing the concerns a streamer or recorder may have before they even know its a problem.

Perhaps this is why the contactless quick-mute is one of the Torch’s greatest strengths and one I wouldn’t be surprised to see on future microphones from other companies in this price range or higher. If players want to mute the Torch, they can simply gesture over the top of the microphone with a wave or similar motion to have the microphone mute itself. This removes any need to click the volume button or turn down a dial and risk an unwanted sound interrupting a recording session. While the quick-mute is quick, it isn’t instantaneous. There will be about a second where the Torch will still pick up sound so be wary of shouting too loudly or saying something embarrassing in that snap moment. After several dozen gesture motions to trigger the quick-mute, I found it to be consistent in picking up my action. The sensor feels fairly sensitive, able to react to a relatively quick swipe over the top of the microphone. Users can also adjust the proximity of the sensor by flipping a switch on the back of the base if they find themselves accidentally muting themselves too often. The back of the base features two USB ports for general connectivity, an AUX jack, a button to control the lights, and the slider to adjust quick-mute sensitivity to determine how far away a hand needs to be to trigger the action.

Setting up the Torch is a dream because the microphone requires no drivers or software to function. Simply plug in the Torch with the included cables and you’re ready to go. Out of the gate users are likely to be impressed by the sound quality of the Torch for the price. At $100, the Torch’s cardioid pick-up pattern measures up to other microphones I’ve used in the past. Out of the box I think most users would be hard pressed to notice a drastic difference in sound quality as the cardioid pattern is meant to pick up the sounds and voices right in front of the microphone. A voice may come in lacking some depth but the overall sound is clear and crisp. The microphone itself features a dual condenser design, using 24-bit audio and 48kHz sampling.

Keep in mind, the Torch is not a costly piece of equipment that implements premium features with a high price tag. This is a microphone that is capable of serving a wide demographic of streamers and meeting their needs with style. The Torch is going to pick up your voice for a podcast or a stream and deliver it with clarity that some newcomers are likely to be impressed by. Built-in microphones on gaming headsets have come a long way but nothing beats a dedicated microphone.

The stereo pick-up pattern is meant to use the left and right channels of the microphone, perfect for those who are looking to record multiple audio sources, splitting a recording between at least two people, or even creating some ASMR content. But the standout pick-up pattern is ROCCAT’s proprietary Whisper mode. Functionally, Whisper mode is meant for those users who are conducting some late night streams and might not want to wake up anyone nearby. The Whisper pick-up pattern is capable of automatically adjusting gain levels as you vocalize. Perhaps you are a streamer that moves closer and farther from the microphone as their stream goes on, or you tend to shout and yell at pivotal moments. No one wants to have their eardrums assaulted with screams of “HEAD SHOT” or struggle to hear those that may be a little soft-spoken. Whisper is kind of phenomenal in that it is able to detect these changes in volume almost instantaneously and adjust the gain so the recording quality never takes a massive hit.

For those users who know that their spoken content is going to fluctuate in terms of volume, the Whisper pick-up patter on the Torch is key in elevating the quality of content and eliminating much of the stress from having to fiddle with sound presets in capture software like OBS or StreamLabs. Add in the built-in pop filter and the Torch’s ability to pivot in multiple directions on the base and users will have a multitude of options when choosing how best to set up the microphone and not have to worry about poor recording quality.

I think it’s important to stress that I am by no means an expert when it comes to understanding the more elaborate technical side of streaming, production, and recording. That being said, I do aspire to create content that is worthy of a quality channel, even with my basic knowledge. I understand that many users may be able to get a lot more out of the Torch by pairing with audio software and other included streaming presets. But those are aspects of streaming that I’m learning, albeit very slowly. Rather than wading through the difficult learning process, it’s been nice working with the Torch and using its features in my favor, especially in its ease of use. One night when streaming Back 4 Blood I was told that the microphone could pick up the distant sounds of a television in another room while still delivering a quality mix of my voice. Next to a keyboard, the Torch is going to pick up the clacks as I type and click but that’s because I don’t have a boom arm yet and place the microphone right on my desk in the middle of everything. But the Torch can be a microphone for beginners and even experts because it brings interesting new features to the table.

The ROCCAT Torch is an exceptional microphone for those streamers and content creators who are aspiring to elevate themselves to another level. Much like me, these budding hopefuls may not know the ins and outs of technical audio mixes and how to be mindful of their voice and its cadence. Thankfully, the Torch has a feature set meant to assist everyday creators improve the quality of life for their streams and content. It’s a competitive world out there, full of devices vying for attention. Thankfully, the ROCCAT Torch is easy to notice.